Notes: Sequel/follow-up to Born Swimming! Thanks for the positivity everyone :D Part one of three. [ text ] denotes strikethrough!

The Visit: Part one, Preparation

[Dear]

[Dearest]

[Hello] [Hi] [Hey] Katara,

I don't know why I'm writing you a letter. [It's stupid.] It seemed like an okay enough idea when I started. Even though it's the easiest way to have correspondence taken by spies. Hopefully there's no spies. Anyways the paper's out and I'm writing on it already so. Here it goes.

[You should come back to visit]

[I miss-]

[We should-]

[Six months is a long time not to-]

I hear the South Pole's nice this time of year. Lots of…snow. We don't have snow. Much. Well, maybe in the mountains. Near the top. If you wanted to see it. The snow, I mean. It might be different than your snow.

[Love]

[Your friend]

[Sincerely]

[Warm regards]

[Yours truly]

Bye,

Zuko.

Dear Zuko,

Sokka and I will be heading back to the Fire Nation this summer for the peace summit. I'm sure your snow is very nice snow.

Yours,

Katara

PS: I like letters. But get a Twitter already :P

"You seem nervous, my nephew," Iroh's mouth is morphed into a patient smile as he pours tea into two separate cups.

"Why would I be nervous," Zuko asks the table. While his uncle does not live within the palace walls, he makes a trip to visit Iroh's tea shop every day that he can.

"It has been some time since the last peace summit-"

Zuko sucks in a breath.

"-with many important guests housed inside the grounds-"

His shoulders tense.

"-including representatives from both the Northern and Southern Poles-"

"She's not my girlfriend!"

Iroh blinks, and the tea seems to pause mid-pour as he angles the pot up, "…I did not think so, nephew. From what I understand, Princess Yue is engaged to the young man from the South-"

"Don't act like you don't know."

Iroh's face is an implacable mask, "Were we not speaking about delegates from the Water Tribes?"

Zuko scowls, still at the table, and takes a long drink from his tea.

"…nephew?"

And keeps drinking.

"Zuko?"

And drinking.

"Hm. You are more nervous than I thought. We will need more soothing jasmine."

"You're like a worm on a hook."

Zuko grinds his teeth together. He doesn't know why Azula's here. Or why she always has to have an opinion on things, "No one asked you."

"Someone should have," his sister says archly from her seat on the divan, watching the servants as they prepare the guest quarters, "You're rearranging throw pillows, Zuzu."

"I'm not rearranging anything."

Zuko quickly puts down the pillow he's holding. Because it's not being rearranged. He just thought it would better if the bed linens for the visiting Water Tribesmen were blue. Because of peace reasons. And it wasn't like it was just her room or anything. He did it for all of them. He did it specifically for all of them. And it's not a throw pillow. It's an actual pillow.

Azula yawns, stretching out her legs, "It's only the Water Tribe. They live in huts normally."

"Katara said those are only used for ceremonies-"

"Oh, Zuzu. Please don't tell me this entire throw pillow thing is because of your little girlfriend-"

"She's not my girlfriend! And they're actual pillows!"

Zuko shifts his weight from leg to leg as he walks alongside the pond side with his mother. Though Ursa and Ozai are divorced, she lives less than a block from Iroh's tea shop.

She smiles as they watch the ducks.

"You must really like her."

He swallows, and unlike with Iroh and Azula, the outburst doesn't really come, "Maybe. I don't know."

"You don't know?"

He feels his ears burning, and he looks at the pond. "…No."

Ursa gives a quiet hum, "Then I suppose now is a good time to find out. How long is the summit?"

"Three weeks."

"Plenty of time."

"I guess." It doesn't sound like plenty of time. It sounds like a less than a month.

"I'm sure she's very nice," Ursa says conversationally, but Zuko sees a tilt to her lips that matches the one Iroh tried to hide earlier this week.

"Sort of. Let's talk about something else."

"If you'd like," his mother tilts her chin down as a trail of ducklings waddle in front of their feet, "How's Azula doing?"

"Horrible."

"Zuko."

"Well, she's fine."

"Try and get along."

Zuko mutters something under his breath.

"What?"

He sighs, "…She made fun of my pillows."

Ursa's eyebrows rise, "Pillows?"

"I had the servants put blue pillows in the delegate rooms. For peace."

That tilt is back to his mom's lips, "…as in. Decoration?"

He groans, slapping his hand down his face, "They were actual pillows, mom."

"Oh. Of course."

"Let's talk about something else again."

Three days before Katara is set to arrive, Zuko tries to get a Twitter.

"Username…Zuko…" He mutters as he types with one finger at a time.

The screen lights up.

This username is already taken! Close suggestions: zukoswife842, zukosgirlfriend91, teamzuko, zukoswife39101, therealzukoswife…

He frowns. Zuko must be a common name. He tries to be more specific.

"Username…princezuko…"

This username is already taken! Close suggestions: princezukohot, princezukorealtweets, princeandprincesszuko, princezukoswife, therealprincezukoswife, myroyalweddingwithprincezuko, flameohotmanzuko…

Zuko's eyes widen, before he slowly presses down on the top of his laptop. Its closing click echoes in the room.

He'll. Text her.

Zuko stares down at the desk. It's dark wood, free of dust or water rings or framed photos.

Across from where he sits, the Fire Lord signs some paperwork with a fountainhead pen and does not look up. Zuko sits for nearly twenty minutes before Ozai speaks.

"The results of the peace summit will have an important effect on our budget."

Zuko's hands curl up into fists where they rest on his thighs. Ozai signs another form, the noise scratchy.

"According to the International Council, we still owe more to the Water Tribe in reparations."

He scowls.

Another scratch of the pen, before his father's voice comes clear and cool, "You may leave."

Zuko stands and pushes in his chair before he does.

He's not going to look.

Zuko keeps his hands folded over his stomach as he lies on his bed. And stares up into his canopy.

And not at his nightstand, where his phone rests.

Because he's not looking. Because he just sent a text and he isn't going to hover around it like some kind of idiot. Because he is the Crown Prince of the Fire Nation, and he has willpower-

He looks.

And looks.

And looks.

The corner of his phone's screen doesn't blink the blue light that lets him know he has a message.

Zuko sighs, turning his head back to look at the canopy. Anyways. Because he is the Crown Prince of the Fire Nation, and he has willpower and he can wait until tomorrow to talk to Katara.

In person.

He drums his thumbs against his stomach. He's pretty sure he remembers how to get to the airport. Not that it matters, since they'll have drivers. But just in case. It's probably a good idea to know anyways, so if the chauffer gets lost they can still find her terminal-

His phone vibrates.

Zuko grabs his phone with a quick snap that is usually reserved for his kung fu matches.

1 MSSG: KATARA

He takes a deep breath. Opens it.

I'm excited to see you too.

Zuko spends the next twenty minutes carefully crafting his response:

:o)

And, because she might be concerned, he sends another one a few seconds later:

And don't worry. I know how to get to the airport.

"Stop looking so. You. This is going to be televised," Azula mutters under her breath while smiling, hand delicately waving to the rows of cameras that are snapping pictures of the royal siblings as they walk to the terminal. In front of the rows of cameras are rows of bodyguards.

"How else am I supposed to look?" Zuko hisses back, doing three jilted hand motions before giving up on waving. Instead, his fingers awkwardly twist the piece of cardboard he holds, which say KATARA & SOKKA in scrawled Sharpie.

His sister's golden eyes send him a condescending look through lowered lashes, "Like you're the Crown Prince instead of a boy asking a girl out to prom for the first time. You don't see me flustered, do you?"

"You hate Sokka."

"Not on public record, Zuzu." Her red-painted lips twist into a sneer, "Besides the people adore him. Somehow."

They walk closer and closer to the arrival gate. There's bodyguards already there, too. The airport, Zuko's pretty sure, has been reserved for today.

Their retinue stops. He swallows.

"Breathe, you moron," Azula whispers.

He does. Or tries to. He thinks he's breathing.

He holds up the sign, hearing blood in his ears.

The gate opens. Water Tribe bodyguards filter out, all wearing the Tui and La symbol on their lapels: it's the flag for the united Northern and Southern Poles. After the guards comes Sokka, his hair pulled back in its usual style. Everything goes quiet once he steps onto Fire Nation soil once again.

The future Chief of the Water Tribes grins, and juts up two peace signs into the air, "Water Tribe!"

The crowd laughs, and just like that the tension is broken.

Azula rolls her eyes, "I believe that's my cue," her face twists from annoyance to joy as she takes quick steps towards the visiting dignitary, "Sokka! It's been far too long-"

Zuko stops listening.

Because after Sokka comes his sister.

Katara looks tired, but her hair is curly and she's wearing a dress that looks blue. Is blue. Like her eyes. Zuko suddenly remembers his sign, and holds it up. She looks around the crowd for a few moments, before her gaze finds him. And his sign. Probably his sign first (it has her name on it, after all).

She smiles.

Zuko tries to wave.

Katara crosses the distance between them fast enough for her bodyguards to tense, and before Zuko knows it she's standing right in front of him.

Okay. Here it goes. He inhales, "Hi-"

Katara throws her arms around his neck, pulling him into a close, enthusiastic hug. "Hi," she repeats, her breath warm on his shoulder.

Zuko tenses, because he's pretty sure this is what going into shock feels like, but after a second he wraps his arms around her just as tightly.

And smiles for the first time in what feels like weeks.

"Welcome back."